You can watch the bible readings and sermon here, or scroll down to read the rest of the Sunday prayers and content, and watch this video at the point it occurs during worship.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
In the beginning God began the creation of all things. Australia’s First Nations peoples have lived on and been good stewards of this part of that creation for over 40,000 years. Their sense of being resonates with and finds purpose and identity within God’s Creation. We acknowledge that on this Dharawal land we too gather in the Name of God our Creator.
CHRIST CANDLE
We are not the light. Christ is. We are not God, Christ the Son is. We will die. Christ died. Christ rose from the death. By his grace we will live too. Christ Jesus is our light, Hope & Peace.
Christ candle is lit.
CALL TO WORSHIP Let us Pray…
HYMN
Great God, your love has called us here
as we, by love, for love were made.
Your living likeness still we bear,
though marred, dishonoured, disobeyed.
We come, with all our heart and mind
your call to hear, your love to find.
We come with self-inflicted pains
of broken trust and chosen wrong
half-free, half-bound by inner chains
by social forces swept along,
by powers and systems close confined
yet seeking hope for humankind.
Great God, in Christ you call our name
and then receive us as your own,
not through some merit, right or claim
but by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy seat
and find you kneeling at our feet.
Then take the towel, and break the bread
and humble us, and call us friends.
Give us your Spirit’s liberty
your life to live, your joy to share
and offer all that faith can do
while love is making all things new.
Brian Wren 1936 – Copyright: © 1975, 1999 Stainer & Bell Ltd Used with permission CCLI 31951
OLD TESTAMENT READING
Exodus 34:29 – 34a When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out.
NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLE READING
2 Corinthians 3:17 – 4:2 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
HYMN
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch him
And say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord
And help us to listen
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus.
©1976 by Maranatha Music Costa Mesa, California USA used by permission CCLI 31951
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Let’s be honest about our lives on mountain top & on valley plain about what blinds us to who you are Lord Jesus the Christ: our inner hunger that reflects our insecurities and deep longings hidden deep within us; our deep hurts that daily affect the way we live and interact with others; our pre-occupation with self and our immediate family; our wish for faith to just be a private thing lest it change us from within; our prejudices and disinterest in the world beyond our city or suburbs.
Lord also speak plainly today about what you want for my life and for our lives in this faith community. As if we were the only group of your disciples on the Earth. Forgive us for all our turning away (pause). And here is Good News: For when we hold on to a little more to what is divine, we find ourselves immersed in God’s abundant, overflowing grace, it is more than enough as we journey down to the plain and our daily lives. May it be so. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen
GOSPEL READING
Luke 9: 26 – 38 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
MESSAGE An encounter with God
HYMN
Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days
Almighty, victorious, your great name we praise.
You give life to all, Lord, to both great and small
In all life now living, the true life of all
We blossom and flourish as leaves on a tree
Then wither: but ever unchanged you will be.
All praise we would render: reveal to our sight
What hides you is only the splendour of light
And so let your glory, Lord Jesus, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the veil from our heart.
Walter Chalmers Smith 1867 Public Domain.
OFFERING PRAYER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & LORD’S PRAYER
God is our Creator and Lord. We are God’s children.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen
HYMN
Lord Jesus, joy of loving hearts
True fount of life, our lives sustain
From any bliss that earth imparts
We turn unfilled to you again.
We taste you, Lord, the living bread
And long to feast upon you still
We drink of you the fountainhead
And thirst our souls from you to fill.
For you our restless spirits yearn
Whatever comes, until the last
Glad when your presence we discern
Blest when our faith can hold you fast.
For ever, Jesus, with us stay
Make all our moments calm and bright
Chase the dark night of sin away
Shed on this world your holy light.
Anon Latin 12th C tr Ray Palmer 1808 – 1887 Public Domain
HOLY COMMUNION
GATHERING PRAYER
Ever-living God, you are infinite, yet compassionate; in you we live and move and have our being. One with us in Jesus Christ, you share our life and our death; flowing through us as living water, you quench our thirst. O God, all your children are written on your hands: you neither forget nor forsake all who are made in your image. All creation is held within your care.
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
With all that we are, we give you glory; trinity of love, the one and Holy God, sovereign of all time and space. We bless you for this wide, red land, for its rugged beauty, its changing seasons, for its diverse peoples and for all that lives upon this fragile earth.
You have called us to be the Church in this place, to give voice to every creature under heaven.
We rejoice with all that you have made as we join the company of heaven in their song:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed, the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
INVOCATION
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
DISTRIBUTION
BLESSING & BENEDICTION TIS 779 words altered
May the feet of God walk with you, and his hand hold you tight.
May the eye of God rest on you and her ear hear your cry.
May the smile of God be for you, and his breath give you life.
May the Child of God grow in you and her love bring you home.
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